96 SAM DARLING'S REMINISCENCES 



whether it is worth taking a long shot about for 

 the Derby/' 



And now came strange experiences at Mar- 

 seilles, for details of which I must again quote from 

 my friend, who wrote at the time, under date 

 January 16, 1903 : 



" How it came about I do not exactly know, 

 but Mr. Gubbins, Mr. Darling, a Scotch doctor 

 A weird named McWatt, and myself left the 

 at Mar- Oceana shortly after eleven o'clock yes- 

 seiiies terday morning and landed — recklessly 

 and without premeditation — in Marseilles. I had 

 hoped that one at least of them would talk French, 

 for in this part of France you cannot get on with 

 English as you can in the North ; but they were 

 all dummies, and for my own part I am as loth 

 to try talking French as talking through a tele- 

 phone. 



" Some evil fate impelled us on our destiny. We 

 thought not of the various agents of Thos. Cook & 

 Son, H. S. King & Co., and to the offers of a 

 courier we returned a blunt refusal. Outside the 

 docks we got into the first voiture — a large load 

 we were — and said ' Allez.' Just then a gold- 

 braided menial placed in my hands a card of the 

 Grand Restaurant de Provence, and said, * Best 

 lunch in Marseilles.' Our coachman being in doubt 



